Chair.



E. I.. KUNZ. l

CHAIR. I APPLICATION FILED MAB.. 14, 1910.

998,909. IPana July 25, 191.1;

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TED STATES PATENT GFFTCE.

EDWARD L. KUNZ, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 JOSEPH H. MORGAN, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1911.

Application filed March 14, 1910. Serial No. 549,210.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. KUNZ, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the city of Buffalo, county. of Erie, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Chairs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates generally to chairs and more particularly to foldable chairs which may be readily attached to and detached from a fixed floor plate.

Some of the objects of my invention are to provide a chair which, when in use, can be readily secured to a fixed floor plate and which, when not in use, may be detached from such floor plate and folded up so that when stowed away it will occupy a. very small space. 1V hen in use my chair may be revolved through a complete circle and at the same t-ime be securely locked and held in an upright position.

With this and many other objects in view, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, my invention comprises the combination of parts herein shown and described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this speciiication, in which similar characters of reference indicate similar parts in the different views, of which:

Figure 1 is a front view of my chair shown in position for use. FiO. 2 is a side view of the same and shows it partly folded up and ready to be removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the upper portion of my invention and shows the position of t-he parts when the seat is partly folded up. Fig. t is a similar sectional view of the lower part of my invention. Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line A-B of Fig. 3 and shows a bottom view of the upper portion of my invention. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the floor plate used with my device. Fig. 7 is a plan View of a` filler ring to be used in the floor plate when the seat is removed. Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the same taken on line C-D of Fig. 7.

10 is a chair seat and 11 the back support which is secured to rods 12. The rods 12 extend beneath the bottom of the seat 10 where they are rotatably mounted in the lugs 13. Preferably the lugs 13 are made integral with the lock-plate 14 (Figs. 3 and 5). The rods 12 are provided with any suitable means for preventing their rotation beyond the point when the back support 11 is in the upright position shown in Fig. 1.

The lock-plate 14 is secured to the bottom of the seat 10 and is provided with an integral cylindrical stud 15, which rises and extends from the face of the said lock-plate for a considerable dist-ance (Fig. 3). Rotatably mounted upon the stud 15 is a lockflange 16 which is preferably held in place by means of the washer 17 and the cap screw 18, the latter fitting into the top of the stud 15 as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The lockflange 16 comprises a fiange 19 and a hub 2O made integral therewith. Extending from one side of the hub 2O are ears 21 and 22 and on the opposite side is provided a lug 23.

24 and 25 are the legs or standards of my chair and they are pivotally connected near their lower ends by the pintle 26. The upper end of the standard 25 is pivotally connected to the lock-flange 16 by being mounted between the ears 21 and 22. The upper end of the standard 24 is pivotally connected to locleflange 16 by means of the links 27 and 28, which are connected at one end to the lug 23 and at the other end to the standard 241. A lock-dog 29 is fitted into a vertical vslot in the upper end of the standard 25 and it is so secured that it cannot be rotated except by means of the said standard. The face of the hub 20 of the lockflange 16, which is between the ears 21 and 22, bears against the upper end of the standard 25 and the inner end of the lock-dog 29 and these contacting faces are preferably beveled. These faces contact when the seat 10 is in its upper position and thus form a stop therefor. Slots 30 and 31 are provided in the lock-liange 16 and the lock-plate 14, respectively, with which the lock-dog 29 is engageable.

32 is a floor plate which is set flush with the top of the oor 33 (Figs. 4L and 6) andv it is secured thereto, preferably by means of bolts 311 which pass through a metallic plate 35 placed beneath the floor 33 thus reinforcing the same. Obviously one or more of these floor plates may be set into the floor of an automobile or motor boat or one may be secured in a board which may be moved about as required. The floor plate 32 is provided with an annular L-shaped groove 36 which is partly formed by the flange or ledge 37, (Fig. 4C) integral with said floor plate.

The lower ends of the standards 24 and 253 are of a circular conformation and together form substantially a complete circle. An inwardly projecting lip 88 is made integral with the extreme lower ends of the standards, which fit into the annular groove 3G in the iioor plate 32, the lips 38 being engageable with the ledge 37 of said plate.

39 is an annular filler ring which fits into the annular groove 36 in the floor plate 32 when the seatis not in use and prevents the collection of dustand dirt in said groove.

e() are holes provided in the ring by which the same may be gra-sped when withdrawing it from the groove 36 and is only one of the many means which might be employed for the purpose.

Vhen my invention is to be used the lower ends of the standards 24. and 25 are placed in the annular groove 36 in the floor plate 89. while the seat is still folded and the lower ends of the standards are spread apart. When this is done the seat 10 is raised to its horizontal position and as the lock-plate 111 is secured to the bottom of the seat it is obvious that the upper ends of the standards will be spread apart by the links 27 and 25 and thus force the lower ends together and make the lips 38 engage with the ledge 37 thereby firmly holding the standards in a vertical position. The seat 10 is now revolved so as to throw the lock-dog 29 out of register with the slot 31 in the lock-plate 141 and the back su port 11 is raised whereupon the seat is reacy for use. It will thus be seen that the seat cannot be folded up eX- cept when in the one position, z'. e., where the lockdog will register with the slot 31.

@bviously some means might be employed whereby the slot 31 may be temporarily closed so that the seat could not be folded up until such means be removed or with drawn, as for instance, the lock-plate 14 may be arranged to receive a slide which will close the slot 81 against the entrance of the lock-dog 29 and thus make it impossible for the chair to collapse or to be folded up, except when the said slide is withdrawn and the lock-dog is in register with the slot in the lockplate 14. This and other modifications of the details herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention and I do not wish to be limited to the exact embodiment herein shown and described.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, standards pivotally secured at their upper ends to said seat, an annular floor plate provided with an annular L-shaped groove, a pintle connecting said standards near their lower ends, lips provided in the lower ends of said standards, whereby when said chair is closed the lower ends of said standards are closed and said lips are thereby lockingly engaged with said annular floor plate.

2. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, a back support pivotally secured to the bottom of said seat, standards pivotally secured at their upper ends to said seat, an annular fioor plate provided with an annular B -shaped groove, a pintle connecting said standards near their lower ends, lips provided in the lower ends of vsaid standards and lockingly engageable with said annular L-shaped groove, and means whereby said chair may be folded up and said standards disengaged from said floor plate.

3. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a. seat, a lock-plate secured to the bottom of said seat, standards pivotally and rotatably connected at their upper ends to said lock-plate, a grooved Hoor plate, the lower ends of said standards being lockingly engageable with said floor plate and means for unlocking and disengaging said standards from said floor plate.

4. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, a lock-plate provided with a stud secured to the bottom of said seat, a lock-fiange rotatably mounted upon said stud, standards pivotally connected at their upper ends to said lock-flange, a grooved floor plate, the lower ends of said standards being lockingly engageable with said floor plate and means for unlocking and disengaging said standards from said iioor plate.

5. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, a lock-plate secured to said seat and provided with a stud, a lock-flange rotatably mounted upon said stud, two standards, a pintle connecting said standards near their lower ends, links mediately connecting the upper end of one of said standards to said lock-flange, a pintle connecting the upper end of the other standard direct to said loclcfiange, a grooved floor plate, the lower ends of said standard being lockingly engageable with said floor plate, whereby said seat may be tilted thus draw ing the upper ends of the standards together and disengaging the lower ends thereof from the said floor plate.

6. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, a lock-plate, two standards having their upper ends mediately connected to said lock-plate, a pintle pivotally connecting said standards near their lower ends, a floor plate provided with an L-shaped groove, lips provided in the lower ends of said standards and lockingly engageable with said L-shaped groove and means for unlocking and disengaging said standards from said floor plate.

7. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, a lock-plate provided with a central stud and at one point in its face with a radial slot, a lock-flange rotatably mounted on said stud, two standards pivotally connected near their lower ends, a grooved floor plate, the lower ends of said standards being lockingly engageable with said oor plate, links mediately connecting the upper end of one of said standards with said lock-ange, a pintle directly connecting the upper end of the other of said standards to said lock-flange, a lock-dog mounted on said pintle and secured in a slot provided in the upper end of the said directly connected standard and engageable with said slot in said lock-plate, whereby said seat may be kept in its horizont-al position at all times except when said lock-dog is in register with said slot.

8. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, a back support, a lockplate secured to the bottom of said seat, said back support being rotatably mounted in said lock-plate, two standards having their upper ends mediately connected to said lockplate, a pintle pivotally connecting said standards near their lower ends, a ioor plate provided with an L-shaped groove, lips provided in the lower ends of said standards and lockingly engageable with said L-shaped groove, afller ring, and means for unlocking and disengaging said standards from said tloor plate.

9. As an article of manufacture, a chair comprising a seat, a back support, a lockplate provided with a central stud, a lockflange rotatably mounted on said stud, two standards pivotally connected near their lower ends, a grooved floor plate, the lower ends of said standards being lockingly engageable with said floor plate, one of said standards being removably connected at its upper end to said lock iange; and means carried by the upper ends of the other of said standards whereby the seat may be kept in its horizontal position while the chair is in use. v

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD L. KUNZ.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH H. MORGAN, J. WM. ELLIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

` Washington, D. C. 

